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ADDRESS 



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OF THE 



V 

Uoiftorablc AKiram P. Maury, 



ON THE LIFE AND CHARACTER OF HUGH LAWSON WHilE. 



DELIVERED AT FRANKLIN, MAY 0, 1840. 



PUBLISHED UY UEQUEST 



FRANKLIN . 

PRINTED AT THE REVIEW OFFICE. 



ADDRESS 



The occasion which has broiiglit us here to day is one of melancholy inter- 
est. A chiet' pillar of the Republic has been siruck clown by the mighty arm 
ot" death. Hug^ L. White is no more! The place which he so worthily filled 
amon" the sons of men is vacated, and vacated forever. From a denizen of 
time, he has become an inhabitant of Eternity. That brain, "the dome of 
thought, the palace of the soul," heretofore occupied, with such ceaseless ac- 
tivity, in devising plans for the melioration of his kind, for the preservation 
in their purity of his country's institutions, is tenantlcss and deserted. That 
heart replete with every kindly feeling, every generous emotion^-which ever 
throbbed vigorous responses to the calls of duty and of patriotism, that noble 
heart is still and cold and pulseless in the tomb. Those lips, touched with 
etherial fire; from which were wont to flov/, as from a fountain, the maxims of 
wisdom, aud the precepts of experience, are sealed and hushed in the silence 
of death. On us, O! never more on us, shall beam the light of that counte- 
nance, in which were beautifully mingled the hues of benignity and iutoUigonce. 

And is the announcement true? is he no more indeed? All of him that is 
perishable; the lieshly tabernacle; the outward visible incarnation of the in- 
ward invisible spirit, has indeed departed from among us. But the spirit, it- 
self, survives — survives to awaken, to enkindle, to ennoble. Its flashes illumi- 
nate thegbom oi the present, and will penetrate far, far into the darkness of 
the future. 

And, indeed, Death can achieve no triumph, permanent and decisive, over 
the great and good. They whose acts have been one unbroken series of ben- 
efactions to their species, are not of the things thai pass away. Thev live in 
the beauty of their example. They exisi in the grateful remembrance of 
their contemporaries. _ Tradition takes up and repeats the story of their 
worth to succeedin'4 c^enerations. Their memories are embalmed in sonjr, 
and cenotaphed in history. The silence of sylvan solitudes yields place to 
whispers of their renown. The vallies chant their praises with the voice of 
all their waters. The mountain echoes reverberate the grateful theme. 

In the eye of Postevity, a nation exists but in its masterspirits: in the deeds" 
which they perform; in the structures which they erect; in the institutions 
which they mould; in the monuments, which they transmit, of their quicken- 
ing influence over inert and lethargic masses of their fellow men; in the use- 
ful truths and pregnant principles, which they discover and apply; in the rich 
treasures with which they return freighted from incursions into the regions of 
Kcience; in the manifold literature wliich embodies and displays the concej- 
tions of their genius. 

What know we of the history of those barbarian masses of mankind, who, 
since the creation of the v/orld, have embraced within their limits much the 
larger portion of its surface, but that, in obedience to the laws which, govern 
alike the animal and vegetable kingdoms, thoy have lived and died, disappear- 
ed and been replaced, by the conti^nualiy recurring processes of dissolution 
and reproduction? What know we of Tyre and Sidon, whose mercliants art> 
said, in Holy Writ, to have assumed the port and nniestv of Princes? Of 



Ciithage. a kiiiJre.l city, ex<:ept of that portion of her history, reclaimed 
from oblivion bv the ij;eaiu.s and cichicveinents of Haauibal? 

Ou the oth:M" hand, whi), \vi:h heart and eyes, (;an walk the place where 
Greece once wa-;, and not feel that, at each step o\' his progress, he treads *on 
Time's most sacreJ wealth, Heroic Dnst'? Who can stand where Athens 
stood, and not be reminded of her master minds? Of Aristides the Just — of 
Socrates, pronounced by the Delphic Oracle, the wisest of mankind — of So- 
lon and of Pericles, those law givers who swaved the fierce democracv of 
that turbulent but intellectual people — of Plato, from whose lips the bees of 
Mi>unt ilymettus were said to have purloined their sweets,— of Demosthenes, 
the patriot orator, who 'fulmined over Greece'? 

\Viio can survey tne wrecks of that coUos^^al city, miscalled Eternal, wiih- 
oul imagining that he sees, loomiiig through the dim vijta of the past, and mo- 
ving in shadowy procession before him, the forms of her Patriots, her Sages, 
and her Heroes? Wtio can stand witain the precincts of her Porum, and not 
recall a tiiousand years of intelleclual strife and contest, of which it was the 
Arena? and not feel, feel to the rising bosom's inmost core, that "sti'l the elo- 
(juent air, breathes, burns with Cicero"? 

Who can fix his regards on England, the Ocean Queen, seated in tlie midst 
of a world oi waters, which bear to her shores the contributions of every 
clime, without attributing her prosperity and renow;^, to the inlluence, main- 
ly, of th:it mighty constellation of minds with which her history is starr'd? Ii 

w:'s in England, that 

Shakespeare, Nature's sweetest child, 
Warbled his ii'itive wood-notes wild! 

It was on England that tlie Epic Muse, refreshed by the slumber of ages, 
from Milton's lips, poured the full tide of poetical inspiration. It was there 
that Newton sat, in isolated and unapproachable grandeur, on the throne of 
science. That Bacon fabricated and applied the master key which unlocked 
the Arcana of nature. That Herschell enlarged the boundaries of astionom- 
ical knowledge, and "gave the lyre of Heaven anotiier string." I'iiat Chn- 
tham,for a lime, held the destinies of Christendom in his tliunder wielding 
hund'^. 

Coming to our own shores, what American citiz-^n can review the history 
of his country, brief in point of time a^^ it necessarily is, without proudly say- 
ing to himself "tnis is my own, my native land"! Or can trace the career 
of liiin, 

"The Forest born Demosthenes 

Whose thunder shook the Philip of the seas,'" 

Or of him, of whom it was said that he snatcfied from the storm-cloud its 
thunder boh. and iVoiu tyrany its sceptre, without exulting in the conscious- 
ness, 

"That Heniifs language is his motiier tongue, 
Ai;J FranldnCs name compatriot wit.h hitJowii."? 

Who can stand upon thegraveof |'Fo^-/z«fi'o;z, "and deem himself a slave"! 

Such being the influence of great minds, not on their own age only, but on 
all succeeding ages, every custom or observance which tentls to widen, and 
deepen, and e>,lend that i!)flueiJce,'sliould he cherished and kept alive. And 
here it may be observed, tiiat high iho/a! qualities, usel'ul civic virtues, are not 
less entitled to our homage, than biilliant intellectual endowments. Suscep- 
iiliieof more universal application, widerand more all comprehending in their 
range, f o.ning home as they do to qxqvj pursuit and condition of life, they 
challenge, in fact, a larger portion of yegaru. 



Among the dislinguislieJ men lo whom, lor t'le benefit of the species, ter- 
restrial existence has been vouchsafed, the patriot ami statesman w liose la- 
mented fate we this day de|)lore, occupies an enviable and eleva ed rank. — 
And it is a source of regret tiiat tne task of po.i.-aying his ciiajacte.' had not 
been assigned to a wortiiier i.istiument; to one mo e :''uKy conve sanl with 
liis early history, and domestic habits — whose acquaintance, more iutimaiein 
its nature, and exLending farther back into the past, would have enauied Irui to 
present, not its marked outlines, only, but those mi.iute touches; I'lose fugitive 
graces; tliose namoless unromomberod acts of Icindaes^ and of lo/e, w.iich 
would give fi'Mness, and cons;stenc;', and completion to tiie portra"ti\re. 

IIa:rii L. White was born in 1773, in t.ie coantv of Iredell and state of 
INorth Carolina. Transplanted, at an ear! r age, with the iamily of iiis father, 
to thai portion of this state now iiiU Tennessee, but tlien a houl'ng wilder- 
ness, his youth was passed ia tne solituJes of nature; a:n"dst her lo'.y moun- 
tains, and primeval forests; in the v'?/:!iage of savage tribes of Indians, it 
was amidst scenes and associaLions su^h as these, that his youh''uI mind was 
nurtured. It was in a coantry, in all save her glaciers, the Switzerland of 
America, that he inhaled the nDuntain air of lioerty: taat ills na.crally deli- 
cate frame acquired th« firm consistency, and capac'ty of endurance, wiiich 
it ever afterwards retained. In the labors of the forest, and of the field — in 
felling the one, and upturning the virgia bosom of the otiier to the sun, he 
largely participated. With his neigibors and fiends, many of whom iuid 
fought at King's mountain, and on other battle fie'ds of the revolution, he 
shared in those conflicts with savage tribes incident to a border settlement, 
with which the early historv of the West is rife. Young as he was, with the 
axe or the plough handle in one hand, auii the rifle in the other, he was ever 
prepared to sustain his double character of citizen, and of soldier. 

Thus circumstanced and surrounded, it will readily be imagined, that he was 
accustomed to hardships and privations; enured to haoits of industry; familiar 
with scenes of excitement and of peril; that the severe and siniple virtues 
were the inmates of his dwelling, cheered him in his manifold labors, accom- 
panied him in his lonely rambles, and attended him in his intercourse with 
soi^iety. It was thu-;, orobaoly, that his mind acquired tiio healthful tone, 
elastic vigor, and aptitude for practical pursuits, w'.iich in after life, enabled 
him to fill, with such di.-itinguisned usefulness, the various and important sta- 
tions to which he was preferred. In a border community, shutout from the 
universe, as it were, bv circling fo:'ests, the abode of savages and wild beasts, 
the ties and sympatiiies which originate in a sense of mutual dependance, and 
in the deep consciousness of common danger, multiply and extend themselves, 
and knit together its various members in tno bonds of brotherhood. From 
this as well, perhaps, as from an innate source, proceeded that warm and diiTu- 
sive philanthropy, which, on eve:y object calculated to call it forth, was wont 
to pour out from his heart as from an urn. 

In consequence of the straightened circumstances of his father, (a man, bv 
the way, of singular probity and piety) and of his distance from the higher 
seminaries of learning, his early education was necessaiily defective. But it 
is evident that the opportunities which he enjoyed, few and inadequate as they 
njight have been, were sedulously improved. His mind was a school unto itself. 
It i)ossessed, in an eminent degree, those chemical properties which extract 
lood aad nourishment from every object on wnich it acts — decomposing, as- 
similating, and distributing in appropriate channels through the mental sys- 
tem ;ts component elements. We learn, however, that, by the generous ad- 



G 

v.'inces of a biolher-in-law (Ool. McClung) he was onablerl to devote a winter 
ill Philadel|ihia to the study of matheinatics, and to acquire the rudiments of 
llie hiw, under the supervi;;ion of James Hopkins Esq. of Lancaster Penn., re- 
puted able ill his profession. In 1796 he returned to Tennessee, and coni- 
irienced the prac,tice ol the hiw at Knoxville. 

In ISOl. at twenty eight years of age, he was appointed a Judge of the 
Supreme court, wii,ich station he resigned in ISO?. In ISOS lie was made At- 
torney of the United Stales ibr the district of Tennessee; and, in the follow- 
ing year, elected to the Senate of the state Legislature. On the remodelling 
of the Judiciary, which wa^" accomplished in ISOD, he was again advanced to 
the Supreme bench; the duties of whjch station he continued to discharge 
till 1S15, when he resigned, and accepted tlie presidency of the Bank of Ten- 
nessee. In 1^17 he served another session in tlie Senate of the Slate Legisla- 
ture. In 1S30 he received from President Monroe, the appointment of com- 
missioner for the adjudication of claims under the treaty of the previous year 
with Spain. In 1825 he was elected to the Senate of the United States, in 
which body he was continued, by successive re-elections, till the period of his 
resignation in February last. On the resignation of tlie Vice Presidency by 
jMr. Calhoun he was elected to succeed him as presiding officer of the Senate. 
This bare enumeration of the many stations which he filled attests the variety 
and importance of the trusts coinmiutd to his charge. 

As a lawyer he was jnborious in the preparation, and skilful in the manage- 
ment, of causes. His diligence and application were only bounded by the 
Jimits of tlie subject to be investigated. In his forensic efibrts, and Judicial 
.opinions, he was clear in the statement of facts, and forcible and felicitous in 
the application of principles. He seized upon the strong points of his case, 
and wislJed them with a power of logic which carried conviction to the un- 
derstanding. His thoughts v/er.- conveyed through a transparent medium of 
plain, concise, perspicuous, language. This clearness of expression, united 
with great exactness of arrangement, gave a beautiful simplicity to all the 
productions, oral or written, of his mind. The weapons with which he 
v/roUiTht beincr ideas and facts, not imao-es and illusions, he made no excursions 
into the realms of jmaginalion. His illustrations were all drawn from obvi- 
ous and practical sources, such as come home to the bosoms and business of 
men. These characteristic features of his mind, united with eminent person- 
al and moral qualities, acquired for him an extensive practice and a high rep- 
utation. And it is no disparngement to his legal brethren, several of whom 
have figured in the councils of the state and of the union, to say, that, witlun 
the sphere of their mutual practice, he was indis!)utably at the head of the 
profession. Such was tiic commanding nature of his talents, that, in a coun- 
try where rivalry.appears to be not so much a casual incident, as an essential 
element of public life, his numerous official honors were bestowed upon him 
spontaneously, and without competition. 

Judge White, it has been seen, was advanced to the Supreme bench at the 
parly age of twenty eight. As a testimony of contemporaneous estimation, 
il speaks in no equivocal lano-uaiie. For that court, at ail times the most im- 
poriant Judicial tribunal in the state, requires ior the projjer discharge oi Us 
functions, faculties and endowments of no common order. But, at this 
time, its duties were espcriuliy and iranscendantly important. Tennessee 
had been recently admiued into the union as an indepcndant State. Her 
constilulion had just been formed. Laws weie being enacted, conformable to 
its provisions, and suitable to the genius and peculiar. circumstances of her 



po-pTilation. it was the province of the Jutlitwaiy, especially of its tribunal 
of last resort, to settle the construction of that constitution, and of those 
laws — to protect the former from the inadvertent inroads of Legislation — to 
explain and reconcile the dubious meanings, and often incompatible provis- 
ions of the latter, framed, as ihey frequently were, by incompetent and un- 
profe<?sional hands: to fix, in short, the land marks of precedent upon the 
heights of Jurisprudence. It is to be regretted, that more full reports of the 
decisions of this court, have not come down to us. The main principles, it 
is true, have been preserved; the skeletons have, indeed, been transmitted; 
but without the flesh and blood, the rounded contour and breathing lineaments 
which give body and animation to th3 living form. Enough, however, ex- 
ists in recorded sketches, and in the recollection of surviving contemporaries, 
to establish the .Judicial reputation of White on a foundation as enviable as it 
is permanent and indestructible. Young as he was, and impoitantas were 
his functions, he imparted more lustre to the station, than it reflected dignity 
on him. 

His talents for fmance were not less remarkably exemplified, than his legal 
attainments and qualifications. As President of the Bank of Tennessee, he 
evinced a thorough knowledge of the principles of banking. Its affairs were 
conducted with a prudence and wisdom, which preserved it in a condition of 
uniform usefulness and prosperity. Watchfully observing the course of trade, 
and sedulously restraining the expansions and contractions of the institution 
within prescribed limits, he maintained the credit of its paper, and mitigated 
the action of those commercial revulsions to which the country was occasion- 
ally subject. In times of greatest pressure on the money market, it derived 
an ample support from the sterling bullion of his character. Tliese remarks 
are particularly applicable to the mother bank at Knoxville, which was more 
immediately under his supervision. 

In the ;ommission for the adjudicationfof Spanish claims, he was associa- 
ted V "ith an eminent citizen of Maine, and a Virginian, the pride and boast of 
his own stute, and renowned for his ripe scholarship, legal attainments, and 
unri aied forensic powers. In business habits, in patient and searching in- 
vest) 'ation, in the profound knowledge and felicitous application of legal 
principles, and in the dexterity and power with which he simplified the com- 
plicn lions, and unravelled the entanglements, of testimony. Judge White was 
universally admitted to have equalled — if not surpassed — his gifted colleagues. 
H'^acei orth he enjoyed a national reputation, which received large accessions 
from the contributions of each succeeding vear. 

In th'" disch rgeof his Legislative diUies, he was laborious and exemplary. 
Regulr.; in atteridance on the Senate, he was punctual to the appointed time 
of .iiei Jng, aiiu uniformly remained at his po^t till the hoir of adjournment. 
During those protracted sessions, which sometimes reach far into the night, 
he sat in his chair the personification of listening Patience, regardless, alike, 
of the iroportnniiies of hunger, and the languors of exhaustion. He was 
<^quaily p'lnctual in his attendance on committees. As Chairman, particular- 
ly, of the committee on Indian affairs, his labors were assiduous and unremit- 
ting. For many years the main burthen of our Indian relations — at least so 
far ,": they depended on the action, legislative and executive, of the Senate — 
devolved on him. These were, not infrequently, complicated with questions 
cf the gravest and most delicate character — threatening, at one time, the in- 
tegrity of the union itself These questions grew, partly, out of the equivo- 
cal nature of the relations between savage and civilized communities, and 



parttv from the confiicting c-laims to juiisdicUon over tlie Indian tribe?, ad- 
vanced l)V the authoiilies of the states in whose limits they were embraced, 
and of tile general government. That the controversies, thus arising, vveie 
iinr'ly and satisractoriiy adjusted, is mainly attribuLable to the prudent tact, 
the cool judgement, and the enlightened exertions of Judge White. His va- 
rious reports and speeches on ttie subject, preserved in the archives of the 
country, w'.il eve • remain enduring monuments of his fame. 

Judc!;e White did nolo.\en engage in the debates of the Senate, on subjects 
not embraced wit! 'n 'le ?pbere"of his special duties. But when he did so, it 
was alwa^^s with eflec . lie invariably advanced new arguments, or present- 
ed old ones in a stronger point of view. In his manner, he was earnest, 
d'^rnified, and 'mposing;— in his diction, clear, nervous, and unadorned; — in his 
illustrations, striking, pertinent, and practical. An engaging candor, an in- 
genuous simplicitv, shona conspicuously in all his parliamentary effusions. — 
His though s' were arranged with method and exactness, and came forth each 
in its appropriite place. He was rather distinguished for justness of views, 
and strength of judgment, and cogency of reasoning, than for those brilliant 
intellectual flashes which sometimes dazzle and bewilder, more than they en- 
lighten and mstruct. His mind may be said to have been eminently vertical; 
shining on each side of a subject with equal ray, and casting no shadow^s in 
which Error might nesLle undiscovered. 

The politics of Jud^a White were decidedly Republican. He had imbibed 
them in their puri; ^and at their source, in tiie great school of '98. He em- 
braced tiiem 'li the'sincerity, and adhered to them with the constancy, which 
belonged to his character. Be '-as strict in ihe rules of construction which 
he applied to the federal consti vv'on, and jealous of the encroachments of the 
general n;overnment o.i :he reserved rights of the states. Inimical to the in- 
crease oi executive Dower,and opposed to the extension of executive patron- 
age, he was uniform in 'Me suopo -t of measures designed to restrain the excess- 
es of ihe one, and lop the exci e.;cences of the other. He was the advocate of a 
cheao and simple gove.nraent, moderate in its revenues, economical in its ex- 
pend'tures, & stern in i:3 enforcement of accountability on disbursing oflicers. 
He was opposed to the remova'., by the president, of competent & faithful public 
agents, foVnon-confo.raitv, on tfielr part, with his peculiar views of policy. 
At the same time, he thought it the duty of the latter to abstain from active 
interference in eledions, involving the continuance in power of the adminis- 
tration for the time being. The r-nt of instruction, he acknowledged to be 
an essential element of constituent poNver. It was not in him a cold and life- 
less abstraction, bat a warm and active energy, informing and regulating hIS' 
official conduct. Conformity with the will of his constituents, when com 
patlble with principle, was the first wish of his heart—their approbation the 
highest reward o' his amo'tion. 

As a poUtician his character is a model for imitation. A beautiful consis- 
tency reigns through all its part's. Slow in forming his opinions, he avowed 
them openly, and adhered to ihem with manly firmness. He was as cautious 
and circumspect in action, as he was candid and sincere in profession. He 
disdained that ambiguity in expression, and that shuflling duplicity in conduct' 
wiiich "keep the word of promise to the ear, and break it to the sense." His 
reliability, therefore was perfect— his position definite and unequivocal to 
friend and foe. Conscientiousriess was ingrained into the very essence of his 
moral being. No functionary ever construed the duties and obligations of 
his station niore liberally in favor of the public, or more strictly against him- 






scir. Nor was he less deficient ia the stern virtue of fortitude. liii niiml 
Avas under that thorough discipline that he could control its wildest moods, 
and direct his thoughts, with resistless power, into the channel of his will.— 
One instance of this powerful self-control, allow me to relate. On the morning 
of the day on which, by the special assignment of his friends, he w-as to de- 
fend an important measure then pending in the Senate, and which imperative- 
ly enjoined immediate action, he received information of the death of a fa- 
vorite daughter, almost the sole relict of a numerous progeny. One brief 
hour, he devoted to the indulgence of his agonized feelings. Then merging 
the father in the Patriot, and endueing his soul in that armour of fortitude 
which sorrow had rendered so woefully familiar, he made one of his ablest 
and most successful parliamentary eflbrts. 

The harmony of opinion on political subjects which so long existed between 
the people of Tennessee and himself, constituted the felicity of his laborious, 
extended, and useful career. And when that harmony was apparently inter- 
rupted — when a body, intermediate between him and the people, unexpec- 
tedly, I am sure, to the latter, passed resolutions of instruction to which he 
could not conform, without a sacrifice of self respect, and an abandonment of 
long cherished opinions, he resigned, in a manner at once touching and august, 
the high trust committed to his'charge, and retired forever, as he but too truly 
predicted, from the councils of his country. The circumstances attending and 
following that resignation; the solemn stillness that reigned on the crowded 
floor, and in the thronged galleries, of the Senate; the breathless attention 
with which the rapt auditory hung listening on his lips; the mingled emotions 
of admiration and regret which heaved the universal heart when his last dying 
accents trembled into silence, a silence never more by him to be awakened 
within those walls, these aflecting details of the exit from public life of one of 
its brightest ornaments, have all been spread before the country. The letter 
which accompanied the act of resignation, is likewise before you; and its pro- 
found views, and irreffutable principles, and momentous truths, are engraved 
on your minds, I trust, in characters coexistent with the tablets on which 
they are inscribed. 

The standmg of Judge White with the Senate, without respect to parly 
distinctions, was enviably and deservedly high. His correct deportment, and 
gentlemanly bearing, and courtesy of manners, and kindness of heart, had 
as much endeared him to its members in his character of man, as his prac- 
tical business habits, his intimate knowledge of aflairs, his ripened judgement 
and enlarged experience, had recommended him as a statesman. A practi- 
cal evidence of this high appreciation, is to be found in the unanimity with 
which he was advanced to the presidency of the Senate, when vacated by 
Mr. Calhoun; the duties of which station he discharged with an ability, a dig- 
nity, and an impartiality, which placed him, if possible,5on ground still more 
elevated. And it is doubtless true, as was said by him on a festival occasion, 
gotten up in his honor, and attended by the most distinguished men of our 
country, that if the question of his continuance in office, had been submitted 
to the decision of his political opponents in that body, it would have been 
carried in the affirmative by acclamation. 

It was my fortune to have formed one of a mess with Judge White, during 
several sessions of Congress. There are recollections, connected with the as- 
sociation, to which I cannot but recur with melancholy pleasure. The fig- 
ures of others, too, grow into definite proportions on the canvass. There was 
a young Virginian, whose rising reputation. Fame was, even then, proclaim- 



10 

jng with ti-umpet tones. On an inspection, the most casual, of his head and 
face, the Phrenologist and the Physiognomist, would, alike, liave pronounced 
him a decided character. Both were large, strongly marked, and well defined. 
His forehead broadening from his temples upwards, his mouth expressive of 
energy and decision, ids eye full of vivacity and fire. His good nature was 
invariable, his simplicity of manners child-like. His conversation agreeable, 
perennial, and sparkling. At the social board, in his hours of relaxation from 
intense study, his animal spirits, as if impatient ot previous restraint, would 
explode in joyous bursts of merriment, — break forth in frolicksome gambols. 
There, likewise, was a youthful Tennesseean, of graceful figure, and com- 
manding aspect; of lion heart, and eagle eye. His every limb and feature in-| 
stinct with native courtesy. His flexible countenance varying with each im- ' 
pulse ol his mind. His keen perception of the ridiculous; his ringing laugh,,: 
and catching mirth; his fund of humor, and power of anecdote; his natural;! 
delivery so admirably suiting the action to the word, made him the delightt! 
of his associates, and often 'set the table in a roar.' Of political life, these! 
two were not inaptly termed the Siamese twins. Here, however, I speak : 
not of them in their public relations, but only as cherished members of our I 
mess. There were, besides, men of worth and intelligence, and distinguish- 
ing excellencies of character, whose social qualities contributed to enliven' 
and adorn our little circle. And there were others, of a different sex, whose! 
retiring natures might shrink, with instinctive delicacy, from public notice. — 
Their forms occupy a select position on my canvass, but their disnnctive fea- 
tures, I may not portray. 

In the centre of this circle, holding it together by his attractive power, 
might be seen the venerable form, and patriarchal face, of Hugh L. White. 
His dignity blended with mildness, served not so much to check, as to restrain 
within legitimate bounds, the flow of our festivity. His Legislative duties! 
over, he loved to unbend himself in the social intercourse of the parlor. No 
)nan brought to our evening reunions a stronger disposition to please, and to 
be pleased: none contributed more fully to the genial current of discourse. 
Unaffectedly polite, he evinced in his manners that uniform good breeding, 
which may be polished, indeed, by conventional forms, but which has its 
source in native goodness of heart. Hence the rare quality which he pos- 
sessed, of listening with attention to the remarks of others, however 
little recommended by intrinsic interest. Possessing an innate modesty of 
disposition, he was by no means ambitious of leading in discourse, or of sug- 
gesting its topics. He never sought to engross the conversation, as men dis- 
tinguished rather than truly distinguishable often do, by loudness of tone, or 
perseverance in colloquial efibrt. He was one of the most unassuming of 
men: never exacting observances from others; never presuming on his age, sta- 
tion or reputation; never attempting to enforce his own convictions by impor- 
timity or dictation. To bear and to forbear, were the guiding principles of 
his conduct. His colloquial powers were of a high order — his conversation 
as instructive as it was entertaining. It abounded in striking views, and sa- 
gacious reflections on men and things — on the motives of human action, and 
the conduct of human affaiis. These hoarded treasures of wisdom and cxpe- 
lience, he would pour forth in a copious stream of unpremeditated language, 
and, a)iparently, with the most perfect unconsciousness of the depth of the 
soin'ces whence they proceeded. 

, When I recall the scenes — with all their dependant throng of associations — 
whose outline? I have thus endeavored to depict: when I reflect on the sepa- 



u 

ration, final, and beyond the power of rcassennblaiie on earth, ot tlie actorsin 
them, which a few briet" years have ellbcted; that tour of them can no more 
be numbered amoijfr the livinc; that of tliose still exi.stino', no two of liiem 
remain together, but are scattered hundreds of miles apart, over the wide 
extent of our country, "it raises a whirlwind of emotions in my breast, whicli 
only he who rides upon the whirlwind can give utterance to express." It for- 
cibly reminds me of those trite maxims, trite because they are true, and be- 
cause forced upon us by daily observation, which inculcate the fugitive and 
transitory nature of ten)poral affairs — which teach that life, with little of 
the splendor, has all the vicissitudes of the Kaleidoscope revolving between 
the orbs of vision and of light. 

'^Between two worlda life hovers like a slur, 
'Twixt night and morn, on the horizon's verge; 
I How little do we know what things we arc! 
How less what we may be! The eternal surge 
Of time and tide rolls on, and boare afar 
Our Dubbles; as tlie old break, new emerge 
Lathed from the foam of ages. While tlio graves 
Of Empire heave but as some passing waves." 

It will be recollected that about the time of which I liave been speaking, the 
name of Judge VV"hite was before the American people for the chief magistra- 
cy of the Union. It had been phiced in that position without any, even the 
most remote, agency an his part: and conforming to the maxim which had reg- 
ulated his whole public life, he did not feel himself authorized, under the cir- 
cumstances, to withhold its use. As a politician, it was emjihatically true of 
him, that "all the ends hs aimed at were his country's," and it was not lor 
him to indicate the station in which his talents might be most usefully exerted. 
His name being thus inseparably interwoven with great issues, involving so 
deeply nis own personal prospects, and most cherished principles, it is natu- 
ral to suppose that he could not have been indifierent to the result — that the 
feelings of the man, and the patriotism of the statesman, must have been 
strongly aroused. Yet he made, or authorized to be made, no overtures i'or 
coalition, with parties hitherto holding adverse relations towards him. He 
.stipulated for a compromise with no antagonist principles or pretensions. He 
condescended to no degrading compliances, no obsequious observances, to soft- 
en the opposition, or conciliate the support of previous political i'riends. For 
the motives which should govern their course, he remitted them all to the tri- 
bunal of conscience — to their own unbiassed sense of what was due to the 
country and its-institutions. No instance is recollected, of his introducing 
in conversation the subject of the election, or of his indulging in specula- 
tions of its progress and probable result. He seemed to consider the contest 
as alien to himself, and with patient equanimity, referred its decision to the 
free choice of his fellow citizens at large. Evincing, throughout, an abne- 
gation of self, as rare and difficult in point of practice, as ii is elevated and 
sublime in point of principle. 

Had it been his destiny to have filled the Presidential chair, to which, but for 
the unlooked for exertion of powerful extraneous influenceshe would probai)ly 
have attained, he might not have sought to render liis administration illustri- 
ous, by innovations introduced; by institutions overthrown; by experiments 
boldly, rather than wisely, hazarded; but he would have discharged its duties 
in the spirit which presided over the institution of the executive department. 
Moderation and wisdom would have reigned in his councils. Method, & iidel- 
ity, and industry been introduced into the administration ofalfaiis: And tiie 
jirosperity of the country placed£on the firm foundation of order & the Laws, 



12 

The predoiiiinanl feature of Judge While's mind was his sound, strong prac- 
tical judgement. Good sense, like an artery, ramilied his entire intellectual 
conformation, and richly imbued all the works of his hands, and the produc- 
tions of his mind. This quality, though not so dazzling to the observer — not 
so lightning-like in its manifestations, as that other quality called genius, is 
infinitely more conservative in its tendencies and effects. Genius may im- 
mortalize an individual, but good sense conduces to the safety of nations.— 
The one may reflect glory upon Empire, but the other can alone ensure iis 
repose and its duration. Good sense is philanthropic in its feelings, beneficent 
in its actions, disinterested in it? exertions, national in its objects of pursuit, 
and bases its fame on the stable foundations of the public prosperity. Genius 
is selfish in its aims, insatiable in its attainments, and despotic in its exactions. 
Its wrongs and enmities, are the wrongs and enmities of the State. In 
its own estimation, it is the State itself. To gratify the predominant pas- 
sion for the time being, it dissolves old friendships, coalesces with ancient 
enmities, and tramples under foot, facts, and principles, and institutions, with- 
out hesitation, and without remorse. Genius is electricity darting from the 
clouds, and pulverizing every opposing obstacle. Good sense is a kindred fluid, 
conveying intelligence along the electric wire, breathing galvanic life into 
exanimate forms, and guiding commerce, with magnetic influence, across 
the watery waste. Good sense is a placid stream, never stagnant, seldom 
overflowing its banks, (and then for purposes of irrigation only,) and 
winding its way through a smiling champaigne country. Its waters are "pop- 
ulous with gliding life," and the cheerful green along its margin speaks elo- 
quently of its vivifying a,§-encies. Genius is a mountain torrent, dnshing/over 
abrupt precipices, seething in abysmal depths, and ploughing its frantic way 
through chasms %vhich it finds or makes. Its cataracts, indeed, are arched 
with rainbow hues, and its thunders retorted from a thousand caves: but it 
carries desolation to the plains. Good sense is the 'liquid blessing,' descending 
in gentle dews, and refreshing showers. Genius the same element co??^e«/edf/ 
Beside some Alpine height, it presents a magnificent spectacle. It is seen 
tVom afar. Rumor reports of its sheen to distant lands. It is gilded with the 
first l)eams of the morning. The last fond rays of expiring day linger around 
its summit. A breath, however, disturbs its seeming deep repose, its haugh- 
ty crest is ruffled with the least vibrations of the surrounding atmosphere. — 
And rousing from its inaction, and grasping its glittering terrors, it starts into 
tfie avc.lanche! It thunders "with hideous ruin and combustion down," down 
into the vale below; whelming and crushing, in its destructive course, rocks, 
and woods, and hamlets, and villages — the lowly structures of human hands, 
and the organic altitudes of nature. 

Returning from this digression, which I trust will not be considered inap- 
propriate, I renew 'my sketches, faint and feeble though they be, of the life 
and character of our departed friend. He was eminently endowed, by na- 
ture, with those tender sensibilities, those amiable qualities of heart and head, 
which adapt our natures to the endeariii'T associations of domestic life. His 
li;tp[)iness was broken in upon, however, and liis household ])rospects darken- 
ed, by tlie repeated visitations of death. One l)y one, in quick succession, in 
ilic bloom of youthful loveliness, in ilie promise of opening manhood, eight 
sons and daughters out of a family of ten, and the dear partner of his bosom 
who h;ul presented them to him as pledges of their mutual love, fell bet'ore the 
destroying augel. 'J'he labors of his public life, contributed, doubtless, to al- 
leviate the sorro^ys thus occasioned. Tiiey necessarily withdrew him, for a 



13 

time, from the vicinity of the objects that recalled them. But, when releas- 
ed, by the adjournment of Congress, from his winter residence at Washing- 
ton, he returned to his now desolate habitation, and saw the inHuence uf 
Spring's reviving presence in the vegetable world around; when he beheld Ikt 
pomp of groves, and garniture of fields — her llowers all iresh with childhood, 
himself childless; her newly awakened birds, "innocently opening their glad 
wings, fearless and full of life," and caroling "their notes more sweet than 
Avords," it is natural to suppose that in the anguish of his heart, "i>e turned 
from all she brought, to those she could not bring!" Time, "the comforter, 
and lenient healer when the heart hath bled," and perhaps other consolations 
which we know not of, coming from him who tempers the wind to the shorn 
lamb, gradually restored him to his wonted cheerfulness. Other lies were 
formed, which contributed much to the solace of his declinintr aije. After the 
lapse of a few revolving years, those ties, too, are broken, and m another bo- 
som, in the bosom of his lonely and desolate consort, his second love, are re- 
newed those pangs of survivorship, which had, so often, and so torluringly 
wrung his own. 

The social relations of Judge White with the community in which he lived, 
were friendl)', amiable, and engaging. His easiness of access, and cordiality of 
manner, and kindliness of feeling, and fullness of philanthropy, justly endear- 
ed him to his neighbors, and imparted a character of relationsliip, to his most 
casual and transient associations. The same order, and me'hod, and exactness 
reigned in his private transactions, which he carried into the administration 
of public aftairs. Simple in his habits, and temperate in his diet, like the pen- 
sionary De Wit, he was careful of his health, and, when necessary, prodigal of 
his life. He was, likewise, in thorough possession of the secret, aod practised 
upon it, too, on occasion, which enabled that great statesman to transact snch 
an incredible amount, and variety, of business, viz: simply by doing one thing 
at a time. By reflection rather than from impulse, he was economical in his 
expenses, and unostentatious in his mode of living: yet his economy was as 
remote from avarice as from meanness. Charitable without ostentation, his 
alms were bestowed in the secrecy enjoined by Holy Writ, and on objects se- 
lected with discrimination. Long and extensive as had been his practice at 
the bar, he never coerced in a single instance, by legal process, the payment of 
his professional dues. Being informed, on one occasion, that he could secure 
a lee of one thousand dollars, by the timely institution of a suit, he referred 
to his invariable rule of action in like cases, and remarked that he was then 
too old to adopt new practices. Regular in his attendance on religious wor- 
ship, he a.cted out in his conduct, rather than professed with his lips, the pre- 
cepts and observances of the Gospel. Prudent in the management of nis af- 
lairs, he was punctual in the nayment of his debts; indeed, it may be said of 
him, I am informed, that he created no debts; complying with his ccmtracts, 
and meeting hjs engagements, before they could lairly be said to have assumed 
that form. In this regard, he evinced his friendship for mechanics, and ven- 
dors of commodities in general, practically, and in a manner most profitable 
and acceptable to them. Of great sagacity and forecast, he never sacrificed 
future prospects to present gratifications; a quality more valuable than the pat- 
rimonial inheritance of thousands. Warm and constant in his friendships, it 
must be admitted, that he was strong and bitter in his enmities; especially 
when the latter were connected with the idea of uuworthiness in their ob- 
jects. Yet no man was more tolerant of opposition, when conducted with 
Kianly fairness, and woged with the weapons of legitimate warfare, llis re-r 



. 14 

lationswjili tho community in wliii^li he lived were truly patriarchal. JSuch 
was the confidence reposed in his character, personal and political, that, 
^vhilst in the one, his word xvas as the bond of other men, his approbation in 
the other generally stamped an opinion as orthodox. To sum up his character 
ill brief", he was an honest man, an invaluable citizen, an enlightened jurist, a 
pure patriot, a wise statesman, and altogether one of the most useful public 
servants of the age in which he lived. 

This great and good man expired at his residence near Knoxville, on the 
lOlh of April last in the GSth year of his age. His constitution, for several 
years, had been gradually yielding to tlje decays of time. But his end was 
probably hastened by tlie fatigue and exposure incident to his homeward jour- 
ney, for the most part over bleak and elevated mountains, undertaken against 
the remonstrances of his friends, and accomplished during the most inclement 
season of the year. His strength and spirits are said, however, lo have ral- 
lied somewhat, on his entrance into Tennessee. I'he evidences of attach- 
ment, deepened rather than diminished, which, with one or two disgusting 
exceptions, every where greeted his onward progress — the sound of cannon, 
reverberating an)ong the iiills, and thundering "deep-mouthed welcome as he 
/Jrew near home," could not but fmd responsive echoes in a bosom, which next 
to its own inward sense of rectitude, coveted above all things earthly, the 
public approbation. Shoi'tly after his return, however, syn)ptoms of ap- 
■jiroaching dissolution were discerned. And, in a few brief weeks, his noble 
neart, one of the noblest that ever beat in a human bosom, was stilled forev- 
.er! Would that he could have lived a little longer! Would that he could 
have headed the movement which, even now, is accomplishing the political 
retrencration of Tennessee! That he could have survived the coming of that 
event, which, to his fading vision, had already "cast its shadows betore," and 
which would have furnished indisputable evidence, that, in his virtual expul- 
sion from the Senate, the wishes and sentiments of her citizens had been pal- 
pably misinterpieted! But this, it seems, was not reserved for him! Anoth- 
er of the innumerable evidences, spread all over the history of the past, that 
retributive justice belongs not to the dispensations of time — that earthly fame 
is fortune's frail dependant! 

Yet there lives. 
A Judge, who, as man claims by merit, gives; 
I'o wliose all pondeiin^ mind, a noble aim 
Faithfully kept, is as a noble deed!" 

Since death is inevitable by human care or skill, the departure of our ven- 
€ral)le and venerated friend, is attended with circumstances of mitigation, 
whicli temper our sorrow lor his loss. He had almost accomplished his allot- 
ted span of life — his three score years and ten were nearly completed. Ashe 
was lull of years, so was he full of honors. The path of his progress through 
life, was strewed with the evidences of his usefulness. To those who come 
after him, he has left an example, which, pondered littingly, is fruitful of in- 
struction and altogether woriliy of imitation. It is, indeed, an invaluable 
legacy to his country at large. It should especially be cherished by Tennes- 
see; for he loved her well! His attachment for the union was a sentiment; a 
strong one, it is true, and founded on reilection of its benefits, and of the evils 
inevitably consequent on a disruption of its ties; yet still a sentiment only. 
But towards Tennessee, it was a. passion. He loved her with a love deep, 
.strong, passionate, and abiding. His heart was bound to her by ties which 
death only could dissolve, it was the chosen home of his adoption. It was 
consecrated by al! those recollections which crowd and cluster around the do- 



15 

niestic fireside, h was tlie sccno. of his filial Iovo<; iiis tVatrrnal airections; his 
connubial felicities; his pai'cntal lu)pes, and joys. The bones ol' most of the 
loved objects, who stood towards Jiiin in the near and (ioar relations adverted 
to, lay mouldering beneath her soil. Tennessee, likewise, had treated him 
with the atlection of a mother. She had smiled ujion his opening manhood; 
advanced him in his riper }ears; sustained him in his dociining age. Unasked, 
she had lavished upon him, all the honors within her gift. She would have el- 
evated him to the highest within the gift of the nation. Well might a mutual 
love exist between them! 

He is dead! but to the truly good man, death has no terrors. Exempted 
from all fears, whether of Time, or of Eternity, he looks back, without re- 
morse, upon the irreversible past, and forward, without apprehension, into the 
inevitable future. 

''Hope with her epirc 
Star-high, and pointing still to something higher," 

attends upon his death-bed. Such,4et us trust, were the closing thoughts, and 
such the opening prospects, of our departed friend. Peace be to his re- 
mains! Consecrated and holy, the earth that encloses them. Green be the 
sdd upon its surface! May the star-light dews distil upon it their selectest in- 
fluences. May those prolific principles, those mysterious agencies, yet undi- 
vulged of science, which minister to vegetable life, imbue it with their choi- 
cest, their most verdant hues! And, at the Last Day, when his resuscitated 
body shall have flown to a reunion with the soul from which it was disjoined, 
may the incarnate spirit, purified from. the corruptions of humanity, be reman- 
ded to a station on the right hand of the Majesty on High! 









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